Shoe question - re: refusing to take them off
 

Ok - I've been browsing the site here trying to determine if travelling with flip flops in my bag would be worth it. I cannot stand touching the floor so I planned to bring flip flops in a bag and take them out when my travel shoes are screened.

How much hassle am I am looking for by doing this? Should I just wear my skechers that have a very thin sole and graciously refuse to take them off?

I plan to give myself a half hour to clear security and I'm flying MDT (harrisburg) at 6 am so additional screening does not bother me.

Thanks in a advance for any suggestions on what to say and how to say it.

By flip flops, I take it you mean shower shoes as opposed to the beach footwear with the thick soles. If you do not want to walk on the floor shoeless, then the shower shoe flip flops are your best bet.

Any other footwear with soles that have a similar thickness as the shower shoes also do not have to be removed provided that they do not contain metal shanks. Problem is that most sandals do contain these metal shanks (otherwise, they would flip flop.)

I can't imagine you'd have any problem with flipflops. Just a heads up - the pair of Sketchers I have do indeed have metal in them as they will always set off the darn scanner.

I carry 50-cent (about 1/3 inch thick) plastic flip-flops and wear them through the WTMD all the time. I've only been hassled once, and that was a freak incident with a screener with an attitude.

I even once had a screener barking "all shoes must come off" look right at me and say (loudly) "not you" when he saw my flip flops.

If you don't want your feet touching the ground, this is an effective solution.

I sometimes wear flip flops
 

or Thongs as they say on the other side of the world. I've been haraSSSSed once when they said "all shoes", but I replied it's "not profile", walked through and did not set off the alarm. I did get a few weird looks when I was being SSSS'd wearing a suit and flip flops.

Wear your regular shoes. After the screener bumps the magnatometer with their hand as you walk trhough in order to set it off...have a seat and let them give you a shine.

I can play this silly game as long as they can. :p

Where did a screener bumb the mag at?

Read the "List of Shoe Carnival Airports ..." thread and there are several in there.

I believe someone reported it happened at ORD this week already.

Yeah, I play the shower clog game, too. My dress shoes all have steel shanks and my running shoes, are, of course, assumed to be shoe bombs. The irony is that my shower clogs have thicker soles than my dress shoes. Some screeners will say things like "Wow, here's a guy who knows how to play the game."

..at least a few of them know it's nothing more than a game.

If it were real, I would have effectively distracted them by making them focus on my wearing of shower clogs rather than the "profile."

Thanks for the replies. My flip flops (aka "rubber thongs" - now those are words I never thought I'd type) are packed in my carryon in a ziploc for easy access.

Here's what you say: "Kneel before me, civil servant, and do your job."

As long as I'm not wearing shoes with metal in them or particularly thick soles, I usually just refuse to take off my shoes. Most of the time they just let me through without any further trouble. Occasionally they make me sit in the penalty box while they wand and swab my shoes while they're still on my feet. The wanding-and-swabbing usually takes less time than it would take to remove, replace and re-tie my shoes, and I don't have to hop up and down by the conveyor belt while some irate businessman tries to push me out of the way so he can get his laptop faster.

At some airports they may give you the full SSSS treatment if you refuse to take off your shoes, but I find that most airports I've visited lately are pretty reasonable and just wand-and-swab your shoes. I doubt that the offenders would be any more accommodating if you wore flipflops than if you just kept your regular shoes on (as long as your regular shoes have thin soles and no metal).

One of these days I'm going to get a pair of full body footed pajamas and see what they do about those:

http://www.jumpinjammerz.com/

I got the full SSSS treatment at FLL on Monday for refusing to take my shoes off. They also made me take my shoes off, ran them through the Xray(while I was seated in the wanding area) and refused to bring my shoes back to me, so I had to walk over in my socks to get them.

They also refused to give me a complaint form, and when I repeated my request for one, they threatened to not let me fly if I kept giving them a hard time.

By the way I went through the magnetometer without setting it off.

It was absolutely the worst most unprofessional screening I have ever been through (and I could tell you some stories about underwire bras and rural Missouri courthouses!).

You don't need a complaint form to file a complaint.

I hope you remember the time and lane you went through. The TSA logs who was where, and those morons deserve a reprimand for what you went through. Be sure to mention you were denied a complaint form and threatened with not being able to fly.

Write to the airport management as well, because the TSA are merely tenants of airport space. Make sure you write on and/or address the letter you are writing the airport management. That way, your complaint won't find its way to the circular file by the TSA, and they will likely have to answer to the airport folks.

I hope you go through with complaining. This crap won't stop unless management is made aware of this.

What are the rules regarding returning the shoes? I've only been in this situation once and the screener returned the shoes to me when I made it clear I wasn't going to stand up for the rest of the screening until I had my shoes on. But did he have to, or did he slip (he was pretty rude the rest of the time)?